Training Planner
This guide provides suggestions and advice on how to facilitate a planning process. It is based on the introductory guide to Planning that outlines a systematic approach to planning and eight basic planning steps. This section is part of the planning guide which is broken into four sections. Section 1 is an introduction to planning. […]
Source: http://trainyoucanforum.co.za/feed/
Link: Training Planner
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EDUCATION will continue to receive the lionâs share of the national budget, with Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene announcing that expenditure as a proportion of the budget will decline over the next three years.

Mr Nene said on Wednesday both carrot and stick would be used as billions are spent improving school infrastructure.

The basic education system has been allocated R640bn over the next three years, while higher education will receive R195bn over this period.

Nominal expenditure for the post-school system will grow on average 7.1% over three years, and that of basic education 6.3% in the period.

The education infrastructure grant for the next three years will total R29.6bn, but will be accompanied by stricter controls over public-sector supply chain management.

From May this year, school building plans will be standardised and the costs of construction controlled, said Mr Nene.

“Too often and for too long we have paid too much for school building projects,” he said.

“Routine maintenance of school buildings and minor construction works will be decentralised. This will be accompanied by measures to combat inefficiency and corruption at district and school level.”

In the post-school sector, the skills levy is expected to post average growth of 10% over the period with skills development institutions â including the 21 Sector Education and Training Authorities (Setas) â expected to receive just under R52bn over the period.

Options for improving the skills funding system â based largely on the 1% payroll levy for medium and large companies â would be reviewed in the period ahead, he said.

Democratic Alliance (DA) higher education spokeswoman Belinda Bozzoli said on Wednesday that much of the money raised through the skills levy continued to be wasted and was expected to remain a “source of disillusionment and dissatisfaction among the employers who pay for it”.

The DA was working on a proposal to “radically shift” the scheme towards demand-driven initiatives, she added.

Funding for the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) will rise to R11.9bn in 2017-18, which is expected to support additional enrolment of students at universities and technical and vocational colleges, Mr Nene said.

According to the budget, the 8.8% average nominal growth in NSFAS over the period will support an increase in enrolments in the tertiary sector to 2.2-million students in three years, from the current 1.7-million students.

Lobby group the Higher Education Transformation Network said that it welcomed the announcement of a clampdown on irregularities.

About 200 000 first-year students will sit for their first lectures at South Africa’s 24 universities this week while a multitude of unsuccessful candidates will be dealing with rejection, either because they did not meet the requirements, or because the institutions of learning are full.

“First-year university applications tend to far outnumber vacancies,” said researchers at the Institute of Race Relations in the 2014-15 South Africa Survey, released last week.

This is in spite of an increase of almost 55000 available spaces at universities over the past decade.

According to the report, 145238 first-year students enrolled in 2004, compared with 169765 in 2012.

Figures provided by universities this week showed that the highest demand, and highest rejection rate, was in KwaZulu-Natal.

At the University of Zululand, 82800 applicants jostled for just 6500 first-year places, which means that only one in 13 made it.

At the Durban University of Technology and the Mangosuthu University of Technology, just one in 11 applicants was accepted.

At the University of KwaZulu-Natal, one in 10 was successful.

Although it looks slightly better elsewhere, the picture is still grim .

At the University of Johannesburg, applicants had a 10% success rate.

More than 51000 applied at the University of the Witwatersrand, which can accept only 6255.

One in five applicants for Rhodes University in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape will fill the available 1800 places, and at the University of the Western Cape, 4000 of the 25000 applicants were accepted.

The Cape Peninsula University of Technology had 32000 applications for 9000 places, and at Stellenbosch University only 5000 of the 22700 applicants have been placed.

Carl Herman, director of admissions at the University of Cape Town, said that across the country and internationally there had been a sharp increase in the number of applications. “Until about 10 years ago, students could apply through walk-ins. This has changed because so many prospective students meet admission criteria. It has become much more difficult ,” he said.

The best success ratio was achieved at Walter Sisulu University in Mthatha in the Eastern Cape, where 8840 of the 22000 who applied got in.

There was a one-in-four chance of being accepted at the University of Pretoria, where 10500 of the 42000 applications were successful.

Tuks spokeswoman Sanku Tsunke said it was vital for students to apply early. Applications open as early as March for the next year’s intake. “Students must apply as early as possible. Many students are denied because there are no places available in their chosen field – sometimes even very good students ,” she said.

University of Johannesburg registrar Professor Kinta Burger said those who were not accepted needed support.

“It is essential that they regain a sense of perspective and … consider alternative options provided by both public and private institutions.”

According to the Wits website, “meeting the likely admissions levels of acceptance does not guarantee you a place”.

It states that the number of places available as opposed to the number of applications is a national issue.

But Khaye Nkwanyana, a spokesman for the Department of Higher Education, said a lack of space was not the only factor.

“The number of [first-year] spaces at universities in 2015 is in the order of 200000, which is significant.

“It is clear that not all applicants who do apply for university study fulfil the minimum requirements to enter into the programmes they have applied for.

“A large majority of those applicants should be considering other options.”

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